Mama to five frozen teens.
Married to the Mister.
Writing - Meditating - Reading - Senior Dog Doting - Sober Living - are my jam.
Life is good.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Just Can't Get Enough

This weekend, I had a major hankering for some very good Mexican food. From my own kitchen. So I set about looking through some cookbooks.

I know that the internet hosts a wonderful assortment of recipe sites, blogs, etc., but I look sitting at my kitchen table with a cup of tea, pen and paper and a pile of beloved cookbooks.

It's one of those special channeling-my-Polish-Grandmother moments which I cherish.

I LOVE Ree Drummond's cookbook. I adore her blog, but I LOVE her cookbook.

Yesterday, I found her Enchiladas Recipe, and Hark the Herald Angels did sing.

Why the woman just calls them "Enchiladas" is beyond me. Because they are WAY MORE than just enchiladas.

They are the food we Just Can't Get Enough of.

They are the Miracle Food That Pulled Miles Out of His Funk. Because seriously, my boy loves to eat good food, and he thought I was the Queen Bee Mamma Bomba for making this food of the Gods.

Disclaimer: Of course, Ree's recipe (don't you love that? I call her Ree, as if I know her or something. Which I don't. But a girl can pretend) calls for the use of ground beef.

Which, if you have read my blog for a while, you know, I don't use. For many, many reasons. Some of which are political. Some of which are health-related. Some of which are planet-related. I won't go off on my rant about ground beef, but I will just say that I believe that if you yourself are not willing to both slaughter and/or watch your food being slaughtered, you probably shouldn't be eating it.

And since I'm totally not willing to watch some cow be sent to its demise, I do not partake in the eating of beef. Just my opinion.

ANYWAYS. Instead of using ground beef (I throw up a little in my mouth every time I write that), I use:

* Black Beans

* Sweet potato, cut into very small cubes

* Cilantro

* Garlic

Sauteed in olive oil. Then I add in the onion and diced green chilis.

Here is what made the enchiladas SO HEAVENLY. I had NO IDEA that this was ever done in cooking. I have many recipe books, and this is the ONLY one that has this technique in it.

Take corn tortillas. LIGHTLY fry them in canola oil so they stay soft.

The Mister's Motto: Everything Tastes Better Fried. Even though the enchiladas were vegetarian, he was TOTALLY OKAY with them because the corn tortillas are fried.

After you fry the tortillas, you then DIP them in the sauce (you make a boatload of sauce!)

People, why did I not know about DIPPING the tortillas. Because Holy Hell, DIPPING is what makes ALL the difference in the world.

After The Dip, you stuff them with goodness and smack those daddies down in a pan.

The recipe calls for Sharp Cheddar Cheese. I am not a vegan, nor will I ever be a vegan, because I heart Cheese. I suppose I have to, being from Wisconsin.

And for the record, I'm okay with eating cheese, because I'm okay with milking a cow and turning it into cheese. In fact, this is something I have done before. Because I grew up in Wisconsin, and when you grow up in Wisconsin, you do that milking cow-cheese making kind of stuff on school field trips.

Because that's just how we do it here.

If you think of being wussy and using mild Cheddar in this recipe, smack yourself upside the head.

Don't be afraid of Sharp Cheddar! It is not a deadly ninja sword. It will not kill you.

I doubled the recipe and made TWO HUGE PANS of awesomeness. I have enough sauce leftover for a third pan, but I didn't have enough bean/sweet potato mix so I froze the sauce for another day (like tomorrow.) Here is a picture of the second pan I made, although it's cold from the fridge. Once I re-heated it for lunch, it was all golden and bubbly. But I was too hungry and impatient to try and take a pic then.

Because holy moly, never again will I ever make my white-washed, wimpy enchiladas that I used to think weren't all that bad. Because you know what?

Compared to this, they REALLY SUCKED.

If you love someone,

you should make them these enchiladas.

If you don't love someone,

you should make these enchiladas for yourself.

If you don't love yourself,

you should make these enchiladas for yourself

because you'll then love yourself

for giving yourself such a delectable gift of food.

Since I cannot blog you a pan of enchiladas, I shall do the next best thing and give you the Gift of A Song You Won't Be Able To Get Out of Your Head, courtesy of one of my all-time faves, Douche Mode.

10 comments:

Huh. How did you know I needed this recipe? Wednesday I have a houseful of Mamas coming over (Heidi, Ali, Kellie D, Mama Drama & The Other Mother, Shannon C & Staci.. who you do not know) and I needed a Mexican recipe.. and YOU just saved the day, SOUL Sister!!

Thanks for the black bean/sweet potato tip. I have recently discovered that my kids really like black beans! YAY! And, although I have watched my food being slaughtered, we have cut our red meat consumption down to 1/4 of what we were eating. I'm on WW. Red meat = higher points. Turns out, I actually FEEL better not eating so much of it! Chicken though...can't give that up.

I've only made enchiladas once, and I too dipped the tortilla. Maybe that is why Beau liked them so much? Can you hit us with the rest of the recipe, please? Unless there is a link here...I will go back and look (first cup of coffee and all).

Sarah my love,I made these for my New England group and they LOOOOOOVED them. I was the hottest thing since sliced bread. I gave you all the credit and passed your recipe on. Children all over New England will be eating these next week, ALL BECAUSE OF YOU.

The 5FC Crew

About Me

5 kids, 2 dogs, 3 cats, and I'll pass on the partridge in the pear tree for now, thanks (although I'd take a pear tree.) We survived our 30 month long Haitian adoption process, and now I just try to live life in the moment, whether it's homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, refereeing, bandaging ouchies, giving hugs, vacuuming, doling out kisses, picking up play-dough, or attempting to keep up on the blog. My Mister is a legalized drug pusher, saving the local population from the horrors of herpes and prostrate problems. We put up with the burbs for now, but would one day like to live in the country, where I can raise alpacas, the girls can train dogs, our boys can be boys, and Mr. C. can work on project cars (waaayy out of sight in the far back of the yard) to his heart's content!